I was sadly disappointed in the portraits we had taken at the department store for Liam's two-year portraits this year, so when we visited Illinois in early December my sister and I held another impromptu photo shoot with Liam at my parents' house. As you can see from the results below, we got a handful of cute shots. Even though these photos were taken about a month after his birthday, these are the pictures I'll file as his two-year portraits. To see more snapshots from our session, click here.
In the spirit of the season, and like any good parent who wants to provide properly traumatizing early childhood experiences for her son, I recently took Liam to meet Santa Claus for the first time. Naturally I expected that the photos from this obligatory kid-freaking-out-with-Santa encounter wouldn't be the best, but I certainly didn't expect to be so tickled by them. Yes, there were tears, but it was over quicker than a shot and as soon as Liam was back in Mommy's arms he was all smiles and contentment again. Now, looking at the pictures, after an initial sad, "Awww," I can't help but chuckle at Liam and the look of deep suspicion he is giving Santa. I look forward to showing these to him years from now when he's old enough to chuckle at them himself.
Ah, portraits. Grandparents, family, and friends love them. They casually carry these photographs around in their wallets and display them on walls and mantles, likely never giving much thought to the harrowing and exhausting experience of "picture day" itself. Granted, up to this point I've had a wonderful experience with Liam--he is an incredibly good-natured baby and has an easy smile. But since he became bipedal, taking pictures of him has been like trying to capture a baby version of the Flash on camera. He's in constant motion, so he's a blur in most pictures these days. I have a great DSLR camera and initially entertained grand ambitions of a do-it-yourself photo shoot for his one year portraits, but thanks to me having only two arms and no ability to be in more than one place at a time, it didn't work out. When he is older and able to understand directions, I'll definitely try again, but this year it just wasn't meant to be.
This year we relied on the professionals, and even that was a bit dicey. I had him napped, fed, and freshly diapered, but Liam was immediately suspicious of the portrait studio, so the photographer and I had an uphill battle from the start. Fortunately, she seemed experience with working with toddlers and was as patient as a parent could ask under the circumstances. Thinking back on it, it was a lot easier for her to be patient--she stayed behind the camera while I chased Liam back and forth across the backdrop, repeatedly moving him back to his mark so we could try to get a picture. After a few minutes of what for me was an unexpectedly physical photo shoot, I broke out the big guns--Baby Mum-mums. Mum-mums are dry, bland rice crackers, but they are like crack for babies. Liam LOVES them, and every smile or sweet expression you see in his portraits is due to the influence of a mum-mum. Those little rice crackers totally saved the day.
Hmmm...We're not even close to the "terrible twos" yet, and already I'm bribing my child. What can I say? As a mom, you do what you gotta do to get the shot. Enjoy.
I have always enjoyed seasonal activities, so last Sunday Liam and I joined some friends at Riley's in Los Rios Rancho, near Yucaipa. It's a great little place you can go to pick apples and pumpkins and enjoy some great BBQ and apple pie. There's even a little country store there if you'd like to do a little shopping while you're at it. It was great to get out of the city for awhile and enjoy a beautiful mountain day. This was the first outing I've had with Liam that I felt he was ready to get down and walk around, and--as you can see from the pictures--he had a lot of fun exploring his surroundings. I admit a major motivation for me in making the trip was to get a few cute pictures of Liam playing in the pumpkin patch and toddling around the ranch. I may be biased, but I think it's safe to say, "Mission accomplished!"
Look at that big boy getting around in shoes!
Liam did a great job getting around in spite of the uneven ground. He did take several tumbles, but none of them seemed to phase him. I was also happy to see that he doesn't seem to mind having shoes on--they didn't seem to trip him up very much, either. Since Liam is still new to walking, I was able to keep up with him pretty easily this time, but I have a feeling this job won't be so easy in the near future! On this particular trip my main responsibility was to keep him from putting things he picked up off of the ground in his mouth. For the most part he was far more interested in the dirt than the bright, orange pumpkins, which is why in most pictures you see his little hands holding the dirt and other debris he collected during his explorations. Yay, dirt!
Over the past year I've enjoyed taking Liam to the Villa's Outer Peristyle garden for little photo shoots with a beautiful backdrop. It used to be so easy--I'd lay him on a baby blanket, try and make him laugh, and snap away as he remained (pretty much) in the same place. Those days are no more. My baby boy has learned how to walk, and there is no getting him to hold still anymore. As you can see from the pictures, all I can do now is chase him around with the camera and hope that the shutter speed is faster than he is!
Well, I survived the first month of motherhood. Caring for a newborn is just as intense and exhausting a job as promised. It makes the twelve hour shifts I worked six days a week at the factory over summers during college seem downright relaxing--at least when I got home from work I knew I'd get some sleep. The kicker is, I know I've got it pretty easy. Liam is a good baby. He's as easy going as you could hope an infant to be. He takes everything in stride and seems not to mind having two parents who aren't yet finely skilled in the arts of diapering, dressing, bathing , or anything else to do with infant care. He's also a good traveler. We've gone out to run errands, go to doctors appointments, get Christmas pictures taken, and so on and he has yet to suffer a complete meltdown. In short, he's a sweet, even tempered baby. I can't wait to see how he grows as the weeks go by and we get to know more of his personality.
Aside from juggling the constant care a newborn demands, the hardest lesson of parenthood for me thus far is coming to terms with what I can't do. I can't keep the apartment as neat and clean as I'd like, or easily prepare a meal, or take time to do any number of things I'd like to do most days. Letting it go and telling myself this is all okay hasn't been easy. When the frustration mounts, I sit in the rocker with Liam and try to take a step back and keep some perspective about the situation. He isn't going to be a little baby forever, and other mothers have assured me there will come a day when I'll wish I had spent less time worrying about when I'm going to find time to dust the living room and more time holding my little boy. So, while baby Liam learns the difference between night and day and that he can rely on his parents to keep him fed and warm, his mom is coming to terms with all she can't do and is learning to be content in the moment. I say "learning" because I haven't quite mastered the lesson yet--but I'm working on it.
Last week we had our first family portrait taken. Liam took being posed and having bright lights flashed in his eyes very well. He held it together for a couple of family and individual poses before he expressed his displeasure with the situation. I was just happy we managed to get a few pictures of him with his eyes open!
This afternoon I was out for one of my daily walks along the perimeter of the Villa, and I looked up to see I had some company. Naturally it was the one day I didn't have my camera with me, so I had to settle for using my cell phone camera. That being the case, I didn't really have the ability to zoom, but if you look closely (or just click on the picture so you can see a larger version) you can see the three deer and a buck (in the last picture below). I saw at least four or five deer in all. Once they moved up to the top of the hill I guess they must have felt safe, because they hung out there for a good two or three minutes checking me out. Hopefully next time my friends decide to join me on my walk I'll have my camera with me so I can get better pictures!
